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Pronunciation

will

Main definitions of will in English

will2

noun

1The faculty by which a person decides on and initiates action.

‘she has an iron will’

‘a battle of wills between children and their parents’

mass noun‘an act of will’

‘The novel traces her effort to find and then preserve her own identity as a woman, with a will and desires of her own, rather than as a queen, expected to play a role that does not answer the innermost promptings of her heart.’

‘He would have burned the ‘Sea Lyrics’ on the spot, had his will been strong enough to set them aflame.’

‘They may impose their wills, but that does not bring respect.’

‘Rival deities battle to impose their wills upon the world.’

‘Indeed, like any parent of a growing child, he found himself increasingly confronting an independent entity with a will of its own.’

‘It takes a real blockhead with a will of iron to make it worse.’

‘We have to recognise that we have laid most of the building blocks already and that it is too late to win a battle of wills.’

‘A recent television program on Siamese twins demonstrated how a pair of joined, genetically identical humans had different preferences and quite distinct wills and spirits.’

‘The critique of Manichee dualism and determinism led him to lay strong emphasis on the will.’

‘Ambitious on it as they are off it, the players are technically-gifted and hard-working, with a will of iron.’

‘Second, it is clear that we sometimes ‘want what we by no means want to want’: our bodies react with pleasure and desire independently of our wills.’

‘It became this battle of wills between the two sides.’

‘After the christening, the ship majestically slides to the bottom of the harbor, and so we haven't managed after all to launch her, though that was our intention and our wills were in perfect working order.’

‘Just as breaking the enemy's will is the surest way to success, so having our will broken is the surest path to defeat.’

‘Conflict is always a conflict of minds and wills of the parties involved.’

‘Rather than conforming their minds, hearts and wills to God's purposes, humans are adept at manipulating the name of God to serve their own agendas.’

‘If he is determined to make this a battle of wills, the outcome could be very messy.’

‘And rather than having his will broken with the harshness of an over-firm hand, he keeps his spirit.’

‘He had fear in him but a strong will that motivated him to continue with his orders.’

1.1mass nounControl deliberately exerted to do something or to restrain one's own impulses.

‘a stupendous effort of will’

‘But riding is not just another routine challenge she can master through sheer willpower.’

‘I am proud of myself; I have managed to fulfill a feat of endurance and willpower and maintain control over my body.’

‘My own willpower in such situations usually fails me.’

‘While some have the strength and willpower to be able to quit on their own, many others will need a bit more help and support.’

‘It was all downhill from there I guess: I have absolutely no willpower, damn me.’

‘But if your willpower starts to wane, start paying more attention to what you are eating.’

‘But it is also a story of indomitable willpower, and the courage and dignity of the human spirit.’

‘It took all my willpower to restrain from running to the harbor and instead follow Mr. Kenton at a swift pace.’

‘It took me all my willpower, which isn't much, to not ring him back.’

‘She soon realized that wasn't going to work, and that simple willpower would have to do.’

‘I even turned to drinking once but overcame it with hard work and willpower.’

‘Each, through sheer willpower and application, became a supreme footballer.’

‘Now, there is no longer any need for willpower: you have remade yourself.’

‘What underlies his willpower is the knowledge that he has trained as hard as possible.’

‘His tears were coming down his cheeks faster now but he had no will left to stop it.’

‘It doesn't require willpower, and it doesn't even need you to worry directly about your diet or exercise levels at all.’

‘The man looked to be using every ounce of willpower he possessed to restrain himself.’

‘How the ambulances manage to get through in an emergency is anybody's guess, sheer willpower and good luck I think.’

‘With a combination of willpower and unending generosity, fans managed to haul the club back from the brink.’

‘Quitting smoking is an uphill climb which requires patience, willpower and lots of tissues.’

1.2A deliberate or fixed desire or intention.

‘Jane had not wanted them to stay against their will’

with infinitive‘the will to live’

‘He won because he had to win; because for him, the will to win is as strong as the will to live.’

‘I doubted, as I watched over the little boy's head, that the old man would live, but there were always several people who had strong wills to live.’

‘Like many philosophers he held that the highest form of freedom involves willing as one should, namely, having one's will in step with one's right values.’

‘Artistic talent is very often present, but the will to express this talent may be slow to appear.’

‘Jacklin is not alone in questioning the will to succeed among some of the young players in Europe.’

‘Everyone who heard Boris was left feeling tremendously buoyant about life in general and bursting with a will to go out and do everything possible to help the Conservative cause.’

‘These were two egos competing for attention in a town where celebrities are omnipresent, each pulling in different directions, yet both fired with a will to win.’

‘Against this image of authority lay that of the tsar, the very good but very mysterious ‘little father’ of his peoples, who had his will constantly thwarted by the likes of landlords and officers, those who exercised immediate authority.’

‘There is a will to succeed that took too long to hone to be put into retirement so soon.’

‘The will or desire to act can be wholesome at one moment and unwholesome at another moment.’

‘Hopefully I'll come back refreshed and with a will to get on with lots of exciting things!’

‘As Hume illustrates, we might suppose that there are no Reasons in the area of ethics - just the desires or wills of particular persons, not necessarily shared or respected by anyone else.’

‘Even people who care about the country are slowly having their will to change things drained out of them.’

‘It's likely that these TV personalities aren't actually lefty liberals with a will to help the poor and needy.’

‘She says that her experience in care left her with a will and a means to destroy herself quietly for many years both physically and psychologically.’

‘This is a declaration of military intent, of the will to shed blood and tears for a fellow nation.’

2A legal document containing instructions as to what should be done with one's money and property after one's death.

‘Among other material now available online is Scotland's statutory registers of births, deaths and marriages along with wills and testaments.’

‘There must be many people even now who have such an agreement with their doctor and I would like to see such informal contracts accepted as legal, in the same way in which I believe codicils to wills are.’

‘There is a widely held view among solicitors that do-it-yourself wills only result in making lawyers richer.’

‘They make a big thing about their reliance on benefactors, and every ten years or so, they invite their ex-students back for a nice slap-up meal and a bit of a speech to remind us how to leave them money in our wills.’

‘Mr Prior has reminded me that he is the nominated executor of two wills of other members of his family.’

‘Members of religious orders may inherit only small life pensions and cannot dispose of property through wills.’

‘And those jurisdictions have also eliminated discrimination in the areas of property division, wills, stamp duty and hospital visitation rights.’

‘Up and down the country, thousands of other people have done the same, yet all of us knew at the time we signed such documents that these wills had no proper legal status.’

‘Save in the case of those rash testators who make their own wills, the proper transmission of property from one generation to the next is dependent upon the due discharge by solicitors of their duties.’

‘The Family Records Centre, in Islington, holds census information from 1841, wills and birth, death and marriage certificates.’

‘The manual, launched on 22 February, will help in writing wills and testaments.’

‘It's also important to draw up wills to clarify legal custody in the case of unexpected death.’

‘Specifics such as whether the couples were registered partners or had drawn up legal wills shall factor into each decision.’

‘The names revealed can then be researched in newspapers of the time and at the National Archive, where records of wills, births and deaths will reveal further information.’

‘The couple have been to Christchurch twice before and spent a great deal of time on the last visit researching marriages and death records, wills and shipping records.’

‘Durable power of attorney documents, like wills and trusts, can be changed or rewritten as needed.’

‘He was accused of deliberately increasing the dosage of opiates used as pain relief in order to end the lives of patients who had left him money in their wills.’

‘It is essential that both partners make wills appointing testamentary guardians in the event of their death while the children are still under 18.’

‘In her classes, she pestered professors with questions about how the legal topic in question - wills and trusts, property law - might apply to pets.’

‘Not long after that, we found out that Mom and Dad had left us all a lot of money in their wills.’

‘But Curzon had a will of his own, and servant of the crown or no, he always got his way.’

‘Annoyed that her thoughts seemed to have a will of their own - something that rarely happened - Sahara flopped backwards into the center of her thick down comforter and closed her eyes in concentration.’

‘One would almost be tempted to think that we have a will of our own.’

‘Sometimes, whenever we try bringing back the past in our presence, we fail as if our emotions have a will of their own.’

‘She needed to be strong, and have a will of her own.’

‘But I don't have it down to an exact science, and sometimes they sort of have a will of their own.’

‘She had no idea what she would do then, or where she would go, but the thoughts she had of walking away from all this seemed to grow, to have a will of their own.’

‘This gentleman, Valmont, he comes and he goes as he pleases: has a will of his own.’

‘Animals have always been put into a special category for the purpose of civil liability, for, unlike other chattels which may be the instrument in the commission of a tort, animals have a will of their own.’

‘Man was created to be free, to have a will of his own, and to make decisions about right vs. wrong.’

have one's will

archaic Obtain what one wants.

‘Not only have the competitors had to lay down their gloves, as it were, to manipulate their own happy ending, but neither has emerged the clear victor, the comic hero who ‘has his will.’’

‘At the end of her tale, she delivers a bit of wisdom that has yet to be improved upon: When it comes to love, ‘A woman will have her will.’’

if you will

Said when politely asking someone to do or consider something.

‘imagine, if you will, a typical silversmith's shop’

‘Allow me, if you will, to give you a random sample of the goods, translated from the original German.’

‘What is your sense of the depth of the problem, if you will, and what can be done?’

‘Imagine, if you will, that you have the magical power to see two scenes ahead in a film.’

‘Imagine, if you will, the ruins of an ancient abbey set in a secluded valley on the Kent / Sussex border.’

‘Enjoy with me then, if you will, a fabulous piece of creative writing.’

‘Imagine this scene if you will: a married couple in the throws of passion is interrupted by a man in a white mask.’

‘So with America firmly in mind, consider the final news item if you will.’

‘Imagine, if you will, what would happen if the concept were to be transferred to racing.’

‘Consider for a moment, if you will, the exquisitely delicate hues of this astoundingly lovely tunicate.’

‘Just give it a try, if you will, and let me know how it goes in our next session.’

what you will

What you want or like.

‘activists, campaigners, educators—call them what you will, they have a tough task in this country’

‘Call it what you will, it happened and it was a magnificent thing.’

‘So there you have it, make of it what you will, but I reckon intelligence comes into it somewhere.’

‘Call it what you will, but that is not exactly zero tolerance.’

‘Say what you will, but the gay scene still largely operates underground, away from the public eye.’

‘I have no wish to weary you with the case I have made in the past, but make of this what you will.’

‘The beauty of it is that you can make of it what you will.’

‘Contrary to popular belief they are not related but inseparable lifelong friends - read into that what you will.’

‘Call me heartless, barbaric, unforgiving, or what you will, but I can not understand this attitude at all.’

‘Make of these judgements what you will but their validity is somewhat questionable given such a broad spectrum of views.’

‘Call it blind faith or what you will, but I believe our fellows can rise to the occasion and banish the woes of last Sunday.’